Work Text:
Love comes in different shapes and sizes. Not everyone finds love the same way. Someone may find love in a group of friends that make them happy. A platonic love. Others find love in physical contact such as sex. A physical love. The only love that is defined differently for everyone is romantic love. Some people think of romantic love as holding hands and kisses. Others think it's meaningful moments shared with that special person.
Hyejoo likes to think love is Park Chaewon.
To Hyejoo, Chaewon was her everything. Her love, her friend, her best friend (don't tell Yerim that), her soulmate, and, most importantly, her everything. Chaewon was something irreplaceable. A cornerstone of her life. Something Hyejoo couldn't live without.
Hyejoo thought it was redundant to define love as moments or actions. Even words weren't good enough to define love. Love, to Hyejoo, could only be defined as a person who brings you those moments. Who holds your hand when you get nervous about a performance. Who kisses you when you're sad and need something to lighten the mood.
Moments with Chaewon was a hard thing to talk about. Hyejoo had so many that she couldn't help but talk all her friends' heads off about it. Like the time she went to the beach with Chaewon or the time they played Call of Duty zombies for 11 hours together. Every moment. Every hour. Any amount of time spent with Chaewon was magic. It left Hyejoo feeling warm and fuzzy.
At first, Hyejoo didn't know what this feeling was. She was confused on what Chaewon made her feel. She asked her friends for help and they all said the same thing. "You're in love."
It wasn't hard to believe after reflecting upon it. The way Hyejoo would love when Chaewon was hugged her and be sad when the girl eventually pulled away. The way she would drop everything she was doing just to listen to the other girl speak. The way she would blush when they held hands even if it was a common occurrence. It was undeniable at this rate. She was in love.
Sure, Hyejoo wasn't scared to fall in love but to fall in love with her best friend who was a girl? She was terrified. Hyejoo may have had thoughts about women before and questioned herself quite a bit but never to this extent. Not to mention, Chaewon was her best friend. Best friends tend to be more caring and touchy so what if that's all Chaewon wants? Hyejoo, the queen of self doubt and what ifs, decided it'd be better to push down the feeling.
That only made matters worse.
Hyejoo then decided to go back on her decision. Maybe she didn't need to neglect her feelings. Maybe she should just put some distance between herself and Chaewon and pray that her feelings die down.
Unfortunately, distance makes the heart grow fonder.
As Hyejoo dealt with her inner turmoil, Chaewon was slowly accepting something in herself. She had come to terms with her feelings and decided to tell the culprit who stole her heart just what they make her feel. Chaewon had doubts that her love was double sided but she felt the only way to feel better about herself and to get rid of the feelings was to take them off her chest. In that regard, her and Hyejoo were so different.
It was 2 am on a Saturday. The yyxy dorm room was quiet with a passed out Sooyoung in her bed and a happy Jiwoo out of the room spending time with her fellow members. It was just Hyejoo and Chaewon playing video games. Alone.
Hyejoo was stressed out because not only was she alone with her crush but her said crush was laying in her lap while playing Animal Crossing. Under any other circumstances, this would of been amazing. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
Chaewon, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying her time. Hyejoo's lap was comfortable and her game was quite entertaining. She thought that this was a better moment in her life. It really helped to calm her down from the reality she really didn't want to face. She knew eventually she'd have to spill but right now? She was fine.
Then Hyejoo spoke.
"Chae, I think I'm in love." Hyejoo was abnormally tense while she let the words come out of her mouth and Chaewon noticed.
"I think I am too."
Hyejoo gave her a nervous laugh. "No, it's very different, I guess." The girl paused her game and placed her control down.
Chaewon paused her game as well and looked up at the taller girl. "How so?"
Hyejoo let out a shaky breath. She wasn't confident in her approach but she might as well spill now. All she can do is pray Chaewon won't hate her and never talk to her again. "I'm in love with a girl."
"Me too." Chaewon was now looking at the ceiling. She couldn't do eye contact. Not right now.
A minute of silence went by before Hyejoo continued. To be fair, she was nervous and didn't know what to do. It was reassuring that Chaewon liked a girl but there were so many girls out there. How could she be certain she was the one?
"Chae?"
"Yeah?"
"What does love mean to you?"
Chaewon stared deeply at the ceiling. "Love is the moments I share with the person I love."
"Oh. Ok." Hyejoo looked at the small eden green butterfly sticker that stuck to her controller. Chaewon placed it there one day while they were playing minecraft. She said it was so Hyejoo could always remember her.
"Why? What does it mean to you?" Chaewon turned to face Hyejoo. The girl was still hyper focused on the small sticker.
What is love? Hyejoo thought for a moment. She knew what the answer would be but she couldn't say that. Could she? No it was to on the nose. 'But it's your only shot' her brain reminded her. Hyejoo blew air threw her nose and decided to wing it. What was the worst that could happen? Well probably Chaewon ghosting her or hating her which is terrible but Hyejoo didn't think about that. For once in her life, she acted before she could think.
"I think love is you."
Chaewon laughed. Wow Hyejoo was cheesy. "Ok, miss cliche." Hyejoo flicked Chaewon as she giggled some more. "Ok, ok sorry. In all honesty, that was pretty cute and maybe my heart fluttered at the sound of that but hey, you didn't hear it from me."
The other girl nodded. "Chaewon, that means I love you." Chaewon went to open her mouth but before she could, Hyejoo continued. "Not in a friendly way. I love love you."
Oh. "Well, looks like I owe Jiwoo 10 dollars." Hyejoo raised an eyebrow. "I made a bet with Jiwoo that I could confess to you before you could even accept you love me. It looks like I lost because you beat me to it." Chaewon had a cute little smirk on her face and Hyejoo didn't know whether to kiss or slap the girl in front of her. So she did both.
Now back to the present day and nothing's changed. Hyejoo is still in love with Park Chaewon and Chaewon is still whipped for Son Hyejoo. Sure they've had their fair share of fights but they always overcame them and became better as a result. Overall, they were doing amazing. Nothing could tear them apart.
Not even death.